A Viola, a Violin, and a Butterfly's Sword
by Rythyn1016
Summary: A weird little story told in a non-linear fashion with some long and some short chapters I do not own Star vs the Forces of Evil, that would be Daron Nefcy's honor, but I do own any OCs I put in.
1. A Violist's Musings

Alright, so, to anyone who finds this, thanks for reading! This is my first story I've written and put out, so I'm sorry if it's not great, but I would really appreciate some constructive criticism in reviews of you can give it. Anyway, this, like probably any story I might write for some time, is just starco stuff that i had an idea for and thought I'd write. It takes place in the canon universe, but Star went back to Earth after Toffee was defeated, and this picks up soon after.

The song I used in the story is "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney. I don't own any of Nefcy's characters or story. Enjoy!

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Star gingerly lifted the wooden body up under her chin, raising the fingerboard a bit higher than is typical so that she could reacquaint herself with the mid-sized string instrument. She took a deep breath as her hand rose with a bit of a flourish, carrying the instrument's bow up to it's four strings. Star had first learned to play back on Mewni, when she was six or seven, and her mother had decided that she needed a hobby (besides hunting monsters). At first, the bubbly, impatient girl hated the long lessons, but once she was able to play some music she actually found interesting, Star found that she was really enjoying the instrument.

She played a bunch of songs, but she particularly liked a few of the songs she found in the Inter-Dimensional Library, where music and literature from the other dimensions were kept. Many of her favorites were from the Beatles (she had constantly questioned how little bugs had a band, before Marco explained to her that it was just their name), but she also enjoyed a lot of the less traditional holiday tunes as well. Really, she just liked getting sucked up in either a beautiful melody or a fast-paced slur of notes, both of which were readily available from Earth's song section in the library.

That's why when Marco had briefly mentioned the orchestra program at school, she went right a way, signed up, and plucked a viola off the shelf, posing to play one of the Beatles songs she could still remember, having used to play it often. Her normally energetic self calmed into a more pensive expression and as a deep, flowing melody escaped the metal-cord strings, she began to lightly sing along:

 _"Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,"_

Star was deep in thought as she played. When she used to play on Mewni, she was often like this. Playing helped slow her down and think about stuff. She didn't really know why this song stuck with her, but since she'd learned it, she'd play it whenever she needed to think about something that had happened. Something important, or life changing. And on her mind now, as she played McCartney's song about a breakup, she thought about Marco.

After Toffee, Star wasn't sure what would happen. When her parents finally told her they'd let her go back to Earth, she was ecstatic about finally getting to see Marco again. It had only been a week or two since Marco had left for Earth himself, but Star missed him like it had been years.

 _"Now it feels as though they're here to stay,"_

After confessing to him in front of not only his girlfriend, but nearly half the school, though, she wasn't sure if Marco would even want her to come back. He had Jackie, the girl of his dreams, and Star had probably upset her big time with what she did. Marco wouldn't want to have to live with the embarrassment she would bring him in front of everyone who had heard her that night. She was so selfish; why would Marco want her to come back? He already had everything he had wanted, and she was only getting in the way of his happiness.

" _Oh, I believe in yesterday."_

Even so, she couldn't keep herself from wanting to go back. When she finally did though, she was happy to find that Marco had missed her too. Summer had just ended and the new school year was beginning. It was the second week of school when Star stood in the orchestra room, delicately drawing sweet chords from the viola. Things were getting back to the way they were before. It was nice.

" _Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,"_

But things weren't the same. Not for her at least. When she confessed to Marco she also kind of confessed to herself. Before that, she could deny it if she wanted. Even after the Blood Moon Ball, she could tell herself that she had just wanted to spend more time with her best friend. That that was all she wanted. Nothing more.

" _There's a shadow hanging over me_ ,"

Star wished that day had never happened. She wished she could go back to before she told him; before she admitted it to herself. Seeing Marco with Jackie was horrible, invoking one of the worst feelings Star ever had: jealousy. It was driving the two of them apart as Star would actively avoid seeing the two of them together. Moving lunch tables, sitting on the opposite side of the classroom, walking home alone. The worst part for her was that Marco didn't seem to be noticing. For all that, she couldn't help but hate herself for the fact that she loved him so much.

" _Oh, yesterday came suddenly_."

A flow of tears came trickling down her cheeks as she played now, and just after the last line her hand jerked, tearing a jagged note in the melody. A moment passed, and as she collected herself, wiping the tears from her face, she started again.

" _Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,_

 _Now it feels as though they're here to stay,_

 _Oh, I believe in yesterday._

 _Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be,_

 _There's a shadow hanging over me,_

 _Oh, yesterday came suddenly._

 _Why, she had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say._

 _I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday!_

 _Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play_

 _Now I need a place to hide away_

 _Oh, I believe in yesterday_

 _Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say_

 _I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday_

 _Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play_

 _Now I need a place to hide away_

 _Oh, I believe in yesterday"_

Tears began to stream now as Star thought about what had happened between her and Marco. It was her fault. She was breaking the close friendship that the two of them had. Things could never go back to the way they used to be. She and Marco couldn't be besties anymore, because she was greedy and jealous and wanted to be more than friends. She wanted to hold his hand everywhere they went. She wanted to snuggle up close to him when she was cold. To kiss him. To be with him, every second she could.

As she lowered the viola and placed it back in its case, her movements became shakier, giving way to the fountain of tears that were beginning to well up in her. She rushed out of the room, nearly colliding with Marco who had been coming to get her so they could go home. She didn't pay him any mind though as she charged out of the room, looking for someplace to hide and cry her heart out.

"Star! Wait! What's wrong?" Marco called out to her as she turned the corner, slipping into a closet nearby. Marco rushed after her stopping in front of the closet when he heard Star's sobbing. He thought about trying the door, but thought better on barging in on her. She was obviously upset, and it seemed as though she'd gotten it in her head that she couldn't talk to him about it. "Star, come on, please let me in. What happened?"

Star's cries became a bit slower as she pushed the door open from the upturned bucket she was sitting on. Marco came over and knelt down next to her, pulling her in for an embrace. They stayed there like that for a moment, but Star began to sob harder, pulling away from him.

"I- I sh-, I think I should ju-, just go!" She cried though intermittent sobs, shoving her face into her hands.

"What are you talking about Star? You can talk to me. What hap-"

"No Marco, I mean I should go back to Mewni! You're happy here with Jackie and all I'm doing is getting in the way of that! I've seen the way she looks when we hang out; I don't want to ruin that for you!"

There was silence as Star could feel Marco's stare fixed on her" Star pulled away from her hands and her tear-laden eyes met Marco's. And for a moment, just a moment, there was silence, as Star looked at him for a response. All she wanted was reassurance, something, anything but silence, just so that she didn't feel like she had to go. Like she was right about everything.

But Marco's eyes began to tear up in stunned silence, so she pulled further from him and rushed back out the closet, and just ran. Ran anywhere, just away, she didn't care where. She just wanted to leave.

"Star! No! Wait!" Marco rushed after her. He left the closet just in time to see her speeding down the hallway toward the exit of the building. He began wiping the tears from his face in favor of a look that can only really be described as… determined. Determined that after the last time she ran away crying, he wouldn't let her leave again. Determined to tell her what he had first come to tell her. Tell her how he felt.

With an almost inhuman speed, Marco chased Star down, hoping to God, to anyone that could hear him, that he could catch her before she did something stupid. He bolted out of the school after her, dropping his bag on the side of the road to pick up his pace. It wasn't until they found themselves approaching the Diaz household that Marco started to gain on her as her shaking form fumbled with the doorknob. As she opened the door, Marco nearly tackled her, sending the two of them onto the floor in the house together, Star in Marco's arms.

Star's weeping grew quieter and her movements more tired as she gave up trying to rip herself free of Marco's caring embrace. As she calmed down, Marco turned her around and pulled her deeper into his arms, quietly pushing the door closed with his foot and motioning his parents, who had gathered around the two of them lying on the floor to see the spectacle, away with his head. This was something between him and Star and he wanted it to stay that way. No nosey parents watching them.

The two of them slowly got to their feet, Marco still holding Star, and Star finally giving in to holding onto Marco as well. For a while, there were no words between them. No spoken message was sent or received. But in his arms Star could feel just how much he cared for her. It made her feel guilty, almost, for trying to leave. But she said nothing, and neither did he, and the pair just stood, locked in an embrace. It was several minutes before Marco pulled away from her, giving her a sad smile, which she weakly returned.

"Come on Star, let's head upstairs, we can talk there."

They pulled open Marco's bedroom door, Star taking a seat on his bed while Marco pulled out the chair from his desk. The two sat in silence; Star, now feeling the guilt of what she had tried to do set in, tried to do anything she could to avoid Marco's gaze out of shame. Marco, on the other hand was looking down at his feet, trying to figure out where to start. After a few more moments, he looked up at her and began:

"Jackie and I broke up, Star."

"Marco..." Star gasped, going wide-eyed. "I… I'm sorry… It's my fault, I shouldn't-"

"Star don't you dare say it's your fault!" He cut her off, sighing, "It just, wasn't working out. When we started dating, I didn't think I could ever dream of anything more. But earlier today I realized that I had, and not only was it making me unhappy that I wasn't chasing that dream, it was making Jackie unhappy too. So, as much as I wish it could have worked out, I... broke up with her."

"But… Marco, you-"

"Star, I'm in love with you." Marco sputtered out, cutting her off. Star's eyes shot up, opening even wider, tears beginning to well up again. "I think, whenever you told me before you… left, to deal with Toffee, that's when I realized I had been too, ever since the Blood Moon Ball. I guess you only really know what you have when it's gone," he smiled weakly, still looking down at his feet. "I know I should have told you before, but I… I kind of needed to tell myself too I guess," he finished, finally picking his head up to look at her, only to be greeted by a flash of her hair as she pressed her lips against his, catching him by surprise.

While it only lasted a few seconds, for the two of them, it could have been years that they were locked in heavenly passion. As they slowly and reluctantly pulled away, Marco stared into Star's perfectly deep, beautifully blue irises, and Star reflected the gaze into his chocolatey brown ones, holding their moment of peace and love together for as long as they could before the snap of a camera caught their attention.

The love birds jumped back from each other, fiercely glaring at the two figures standing in Marco's now open doorway.

"Mom! Dad! What are you doing!?" Marco yelled.

"Mijo, that was your first kiss that wasn't with your mother! We had to get a picture so we can put it in our book of pictures you didn't want us to take of you!" Marco's dad responded, burning a deep red onto Marco's cheeks.

"DAD! Didn't you see me trying to get you two to leave us alone downstairs? And anyway, I kissed Jackie before so you missed your chance!"

"Oh Mijo, that was downstairs, and now you're up here so we thought it was fine. And even if you did kiss Jackie before, this is you first kiss with the girl you really like!" his mother returned. Star, who had begun chuckling throughout the beginning of the exchange flushed a deep shade of crimson as well, sending Marco's parents into their own fits of laughter. "Well, we'll leave you two to it now, just don't do anything either of you will regret!"

"Yes, we do not want grandchildren quite yet son." Marco's dad said with a laugh as the two of them shuffled down the stairs back into the kitchen.

After a minute passed, and the couple moved to sitting on the bed, Marco spoke up, "Well that was… unnecessarily awkward."

"Yeah, you're right… So, what does this make us, then?"

"I dunno, I guess… are we dating now then?" Marco asked with a hopeful smile.

"Not yet we're not," Star jeered with a smirk. As Marco opened his mouth to ask, Star's lips shot onto his and they shared another blissful kiss. "We, dearest Marco, need to go on a date first."

Once again, thank you so much for reading. I'm still figuring out how FF works, so thanks for putting up with any mistakes I made in that regard. And if you have the time, please leave a review if you can, it would be greatly appreciated!


	2. The Beach

Hello Everyone! I have a couple of things to get to before the story I have for today so I'm gonna get started. First off, to SugarQueen97 and Noobl2, I cannot thank you guys enough for the really helpful reviews you left me! I'm gonna get to responding to them after the story, but I seriously can't thank you enough, they were so helpful for me. I also want to say thank you to the half-dozen or so people who liked and followed the story, I'm really flattered that you guys like it.

So, anyway, onto what I have to say about the future of this story. When I put up the first chapter last week, I wasn't really positive what I wanted to do with this, so I went with the safe option and said it would be a bunch of one-shots. After thinking about it a bit more, I've come up with a rough idea of what I want to do with this.

So, I think what's going to happen is I'm going to turn this into a sort of non-linear story, where everything that happens is going to be in the same universe, but the chapters won't necessarily come out in chronological order. So in a sense, they will still be written as one-shots, just bearing in mind that they would kind of function as a full story if given the proper order.

If I continue with this plan, then I think there will definitely be an OC that will be introduced separately from everyone else but will eventually be tied in. I'm still not really sure, and I'm kind of playing this by ear, so let me know what you guys think.

The other thing I've realized is that as much as I wish I did, I don't have the time to get out a story of similar length and (hopefully improving) quality as my first one on any sort of regular basis, so I think what I'm going to do is start writing little "snippets" of story so that I don't have to post something and then abandon the site for a month or two. These snippets are just going to be really short little scenes that I write in an hour or two when I get the chance, and this is going to be the first one of them. I'm going to try to get one of them out each week, but just understand that that might not always happen.

TLDR; This might get a little bit weird and if you don't like it that's fine, this might not be everyone's thing.

Anyway, as far as this snippet goes, this takes place 10 years after the last one. That's all you really need to know. I don't own Nefcy's characters, world, or story. Enjoy!

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Star and Marco were sat on the beach, basking in each other's presence as the evening light dimmed around them. The warm, purplish glow caught in the couple's eyes as they started into the glittering blue sea. Crashing waves were the only thing to break the silence as they enjoyed the end of their perfect day together.

The pair of 24-year-olds had been having a fun day fighting evil followed by a romantic, candle-lit dinner, and now this. 10 years of love and affection seemed almost to culminate into this perfect moment: when star convinced her parents to let her stay on Earth, when they got drunk together for the first time, when they got their apartment together, their celebration after Marco got his Master's in Psych. It had all led up to this one moment.

Marco glanced nervously at Star from the corner of his eye. In the back of his mind, he knew she would accept. He knew Star loved him but… was she ready? No matter how many times he was reassured of her answer, the same nagging worry she wouldn't plagued his thoughts. He knew he was probably overthinking it, and it seemed like Star knew he was over thinking something too, as she squeezed his hand a little tighter and cuddled into him a little closer.

So, as they stared into the sea longingly, hand in hand, hugging close to one another, Marco broke away a little and turned to face Star completely. Her breathtaking beauty caught him for a moment, but the weight in his pocket grew heavier by the second, urging him to go on with it. "Yes Marco?" Star asked with a playful smirk, seeing the nervousness look in his eyes.

"Oh, umm… right, yeah, sorry…" Marco stuttered out, his apprehensiveness starting to show. He took a deep breath in to steel himself with a smile as he began:

"Star, you are the most wonderful person I have ever known, and since I met you I don't think I could ever remember a time without you. Every day we've spent together has been the best day yet. You are kind, you are funny, you are beautiful, brave, and fearless, and you always jump head-first into danger, and I love you for it more than anything. So, Star…" Marco took another little pause as he got down on one knee in front of the now awestruck blonde.

Out from his pocket he pulled the little black velvet box that had been sitting there since their dinner and pulled the top back as he displayed the little golden ring inside to her. Star's eyes filled with tears of pure, unadulterated joy as she realized what it was what he was doing, and it took every fiber of her being not to scream in happiness before he could even actually ask the question:

"Will you marry me?"

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SugarQueen97: Thanks for the great review, I don't think anything was lost in translation. In regards to your last two points… Thanks for pointing them out. As someone who's not had huge amounts of experience with stuff like this (and also with just sort of my general attitude toward speaking to and with other people), it wasn't really something that I thought of as weird when I wrote it, but after you point them out it does seem kind of dumb the way I did it haha.

In regards to your first point though, I guess I probably didn't really say it well, but the way I thought of it was that Marco had been crushing on Jackie for most of his life and then he got together with her and it didn't work out. When Marco said it, I don't think he meant it in a way like he still had a thing for her, but more like an oh crap I just wasted half my life on something that didn't even work. In my head cannon for it (I don't know if I ever actually said it or not) Marco's the one that broke up with her because he realized he didn't have any real feelings for her, and I don't think he was actually originally going to say anything to Star until later (even if in the story I did, I'm just dumb like this sometimes but I still believe in preserving that as my original first work and I don't want to change it).

Noobl2: Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad to here there are people out there in the vastness of the internet with some similar interests as me! It's almost a comforting thought. Also, keep on it with your fic! I spent like a month on that one and I still wasn't sure if I wanted to stick it up yet. In the end, just know that whatever you put up should be something that you are personally happy with, and you don't have to cater to the needs of anyone who doesn't like it the way you do. If you don't think you can manage to get 3k, than go for whatever you can. From past experience with writing, it isn't necessarily the practice that will make you better, it's the feedback you get from the practice. Even if you think it is short by comparison to other people's works (this chapter should be a good example of that), getting the feedback from people is what will make you better. I'll be sure to check out your work in future!

Anyway, thanks for the advice with the breaklines, while I'm not going to go back and change any grammar and story stuff (as I said before, I want to preserve this as I put it out the first time), I've gone back and fixed some of the formatting things. I'm putting my stories up through my phone because I don't have a computer that I can reliably get onto the website with so I don't have the provided breakline function, but I'm going to start using a couple of dashes for them. I'm really happy to hear you're enjoying my work, and I hope you continue to glean some measure of happiness from reading! Thanks!


	3. Rooftops

Hi guys. First things first, I'VE YET TO DIE! For the couple of you that care, I'm so so sorry I said I would try to upload something each week and then went on a nearly month-long hiatus. This chapter was originally being written in a style similar to the last one but I had an idea for it as a longer thing and felt like adding any more chapters in sequence with as much romance as the past two would get really repetitive and dry.

So, a few other things about this chapter: firstly, this chapter takes place about 3 years before the last chapter (this is what I meant about it being nonlinear). It has the first real hints of where I plan on going with this so far. It contains a lot of hints at different elements that will come up again. Second, Magical Artifice is the study of magical objects, how they are made, and how to use them. That might help clarify something further down. The final thing is that I'm not really sure about how I feel about the end of this one. I'm putting it out because I really don't know what else to do with it, but it feels a bit abrupt for me. I already feel bad about disappearing for so long, and I feel like putting out a mostly-decent chapter is better than none at all. I would really appreciate any advice you guys might have for me.

If you guys are curious, the exact point this story departs from the canon is after season 3 episode 4, The Battle for Mewni: Toffee. If you don't like that I don't follow all of the canon, sue me.

Thank you guys for reading, and responses to reviews will be at the end. I don't own any of Nefcy's characters or story. I hope you enjoy!

"Star, where're we going?" Marco asked between intermittent laughs. The two of them had been walking down the garden paths hand in hand when the golden-haired beauty suddenly pulled him along behind her, running off in a near blind passion.

"Come on, you'll see!" Star called out behind her with a great smirk. She had it all planned out. Get away from the palace guards so that they'd be alone, take Marco up onto the the rooftops, and then have the best anniversary ever. She was still on step one though.

"Princess! Sir! Wait up!" Ever since Star had come back to Mewni to prepare for receiving the crown, she'd had bodyguards on her 24/7. Her mother didn't want the still young queen-to-be to be the target of an assassination, and while she appreciated the fact that her mother cared, the guards just wouldn't do for the perfect evening she had planned.

The couple dashed down the garden walkway and into the palace itself, making sure to take plenty of unnecessary twists and turns to try to lose the guards. Star even pulled down a few of the unlit candle holders and banners as they ran to try to distract them. She took Marco up the stairs onto the third floor of the palace where she promptly pulled him through an open window and ducked the two of them down under it, taking their first pause in nearly five minutes of chase.

The couple had to clasp their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing too loud as the guards ran straight past the window, thinking their wards had gone further ahead. As the footsteps moved on away from the window, the pair of them gave up on trying to hide their laughter, letting it out in the sweet bliss of the moment.

"Seriously though," Marco asked as their laughter calmed, "What're we doing up here Star?" Star began leading Marco along again, this time on the roof further away from the window.

"Well, It's our seven-year anniversary, you've moved into the palace to go to a Mewnian university so we can see each other more often, so life's been really nice, and I just felt like I needed to do something for my amazing and spectacular boyfriend," Star responded a bit sheepishly with a blush, taking Marco over a little gap in the roof and around the corner of one of the towers to the spot she had set up earlier. "So I put together a little picnic for us up here, away from my parents and the guards and the courtiers, so we could just spend the evening alone." Her lip curled up a little at this, and Marco took no hesitation to plant a kiss on his girlfriend's cute smile.

Star did the picnic up perfectly for them. There was a beautiful red cloth draped carefully over a flat spot on the rooftop, a wicker basket filled with plenty of different foods (even her own attempt at Marco's nachos, which, while not quite as good, were still appreciated for the effort), and Star even convinced Marco to try a bit of the wine she brought. Star had even got the timing of the picnic perfect; as they sat down, the sun had just begun to break the horizon on its journey for the night's rest, giving a romantic glow to everything around them.

They thought they must've been up there for hours celebrating their anniversary of dating. Till well into the night they talked and talked and talked, giving not a single care for the searching of the guards, who they could still hear now and again, growing in number, as the night went on. They knew it would only be a matter of time before they were found, and then Queen Moon would give them an earful, but for now, they just wanted their simple of moment of blissful ignorance of the world together. And for a long while they thought they had it, but good things rarely can last.

The guards went on searching until well past midnight, but they eventually gave up, hoping that the couple would be able to handle themselves. At that point, it was eerily quiet, and in the moments of passion that had previously ensued between them, Star and Marco had fallen asleep in each other's loving embrace.

Now that they had given in to slumber though, they truly were defenseless. Without their faculties all about them or their host of bodyguards, the pair had no way of defending themselves, not even the small amounts of armor padding usually worn under their clothes as those, too, had been doffed for ease of access during their night. They had no way of knowing the threat which had begun making its way to them, even as he bent down to slit his quarry's neck.

But somewhere, though, the assassin had not been careful enough. As he approached, his boot tugged at the tablecloth, which in turn pulled gently at Marco's exposed back. It was just enough for Marco to take notice, and when he did he carefully picked up a cheese knife which had been brought with the picnic.

What ensued after was chaos, and not even Marco, who had since been recovered from his drowsy state by his instinct to keep Star from harm, could make any logical sense about it. As the assassin bent over, Marco spun Star under him and swung wildly at him with his knife. Star, who was roused by the sudden motion, began to blink wildly thinking that Marco had woken her in a rush to get her clothes back on, only to see the hooded figure wielding a gold-hilted shortsword poised above the pair. They couldn't believe what they saw as the figure, who recoiled in surprise that he was found out, made a deep slash into the air, cutting open a bright yellow rift that had a double a couple meters behind them.

As the figure stepped through the rift, Marco and Star could see his form disappear, only to reform just out of the other one. They took the quick minute to snag up something they could use to defend themselves, Star grabbing her wand and Marco, a sword that he left lying nearby when they arrived.

"Who are you!? Seriously, we were just having– Narwhal BLAST!!!" She yelled out as she launched an aquatic mammal at the assassin, who she saw beginning a charge back toward them as she spoke. Before collision though, the assassin cut open another portal and walked out just past the flying narwhal, continuing his charge. Marco intercepted him with a swipe of his sword, but the assassin just leapt back and teleported behind them again. "Damn it! He too fast! He's just going to wear us down like this!" Star remarked.

"I got an idea; keep him distracted!" Marco replied, pulling behind Star as she began blasting more spells the assassin's way. As the assassin nimbly dodged the attacks, he grew closer and closer, until he was almost right in front of them. Star frantically shot another spell at point blank, forcing the assassin to try an open another portal to avoid it. At this point though, Marco spun around Star, parrying the assassin's swipe into the air and disarming him before he could open the portal and catching him off guard. Marco took his opportunity to perform a throat jab with his hand, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the ground.

Marco took the assassin's sword from the ground and pressed it and the edge of his own sword against the assassin's throat to pin him to the ground. "Give it up, you lost, you're going to be spending a very long time in the dungeon for that stupid mistake you made, trying to kill the Princess." He said through heaving breaths from the strenuous battle.

The assassin, however, began to chuckle at this statement, almost as if something Marco had said was naïvely assumptious. His snickering began to grow into an almost maniacal and crazed laughter, beckoning for Marco to finish what he started; begging him with his poisonous cackle. A wave of anger washed over the Earth-born man, striking him right at the weak point of his humanity. The assassin had tried to hurt Star, his precious Star, and now he gave a shrill giggle to facing the ramifications of those actions and the idea of his success. Something snapped in Marco, and he did something he never thought himself capable of. He would fight anyone to protect his friends, especially Star, but he would never kill anyone, whatever they had done. He simply wasn't a killer. But for this moment, his moral compass had left him, and Marco could feel the weakening pulse of the assassin shake the blades as they pierced into his neck, killing him instantly.

Marco dropped the swords with a small clamour and stumbled back onto the ground as the adrenaline escaped him. He sat staring, stunned by the flowing pool of blood spilling from the body as a realization came over him. "I– Wha– What've I done? I– I just killed someone! This can't be happening! I–" his eyes began water as the the words slid off his tongue from disgust, and he couldn't help but feel an immense self loathing that came with the idea. Marco Diaz was responsible for this man's death, and, not only had the man accepted it, he welcomed it, almost taunted him to do it with thoughts of what he intended to do.

A few seconds passed, and the tears were flowing freely as Star sat down next to him and pulled his face to look her in the sapphire spheres of compassion adorned above her pink-hearted cheeks. "It's not your fault Marco. None of it is. Being the princess means that there are some people who want me dead. It's an occupational hazard. That man," She said pointing to the assassin, "tried to tear us away from each other and, when faced with capture, used that threat to get into your head. You can't blame yourself for this. It might haunt you for a long while but you have to know that I dont… I can't blame you for it, and neither can anyone else. Unless they want to hear from me." She finished with a little smile to break the tension, eliciting a little laugh she shared with Marco.

Star gave him an empathetic hug before helping him up so that the two of them could make themselves decent enough to deal with their fallen foe. It was starting to get a bit cold too, hasting their efforts to collect their clothes back onto their body.

They slept together the next night as well, this time in Star's bed as opposed to on the roof. The night passed without any unexpected excitement, but Marco and Star were still on edge about the whole ordeal. The two of them had come to two decisions in the wake of the attack the night before. The first was that they wouldn't tell anyone about the assassin. Star was adamant about that; she didn't want to cause her parents any more stress than they already had from running the kingdom, and she felt like her and Marco were plenty skilled enough to protect each other. They got rid of the body with a mini black hole courtesy of Star, but held onto most of what he had on him (though Marco was still reluctant to go near him again, so Star took most of the stuff off him while Marco watched for any danger from a short distance away).

The second thing they decided on was in relation to the equipment they took off him. The most curious object was the sword, which very evidently had some magical properties, but also had a few other oddities. The hilt was golden, styled like a Roman gladius, with a sapphire encrusted silver eye flanked by the wings of a butterfly at the base of the blade. The blade itself was relatively short, with a broad fuller and an inscription in some language foreign to the both of them extending the length of the blade. There was a scabbard on the assassin's left shoulder that paired with the sword that was decorated with a celtic knot pattern down its length.

Marco and Star decided that, since Marco was taking Magical Artifice as one of his electives for college here, he should hold onto the blade which they now dubbed the Voidsplitter so that he could learn more about what secrets it held. Marco wanted it for a second reason, though, he didn't tell Star. He wanted it to remind him of what he had done. The weight of his action would always be manifest as the blade over his shoulder now, and it would keep him from ever doing something like that again. Marco was not a killer, and he didn't want to be. Taking a life was something he felt that no person should have the right to do, whatever their actions had been. It just wasn't ever the right thing to do, and Marco didn't want to be brought to do it again.

Noobl2: Thanks man! I'm glad you enjoyed how I did that chapter, it's a sort of format I want to try to use a bit in future.

Guest: I'm glad you like the way I did that chapter, but I don't think I'll ever go back and do anything from another character's perspective unless I feel like it will provide some insight that you simply couldn't get otherwise. As for the final half of your review, I'm not really sure what it is you were trying to get at, and I know what you mean about young people's relationships not lasting, but I have three things to say about that: works of fiction require suspension of disbelief; if you're complaining about the realism of the romance than you have many bigger problems with the realism of this fandom to deal with, I'm going to write the plot of this however I see fit (the canon is only being followed up until the episode I mentioned), and if you don't like what I'm writing about than just don't read it, no one's forcing you if you don't like it.

Sorry if I misunderstood you, I just wasn't really sure how else that half of your comment could be interpreted. Thanks anyway for the review!


	4. Drinking Buddies

Hi all! I'm back again. This is gonna be another one of those short snippets, so I'll try to keep what's up here short too. I'm sorry that I said I'd try to get a new chapter in each week and then didn't follow up on the promise AT ALL, but I'm really starting to burn myself out with all the other stuff I've been up to outside of writing. So, first off, I'm sorry to those of you that care, but I'm just gonna give up completely on following a schedule for right now. If I manage to crank out a few stories during a break sometime, I might switch over to one a week for a little while, but otherwise it'll just be whenever I can get the time to write.

Secondly, this one isn't anything related to Halloween. I'm sorry, but I started writing this a week or two ago and expected to finish a bit sooner, but here we are on the day before the spooky night. I'll think about theming the next chapter appropriately to make up for it, but we'll just have to see.

Thirdly, for anyone who happens to be curious, I'm writing this story in much the same way you would play a game of Microscope (look it up, it's great), and at some point might make a formal timeline set up like that that I'll try to share with you guys.

Finally, I really want to apologize to the Guest reviewer. I have a better understanding of what you meant now and I'm sorry that I misunderstood at first and came off as a bit rude.

Thanks to everyone who's reading, and responses to reviews will be at the end. I don't own any of Nefcy's characters or story. I hope you enjoy!

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The liquidy-sharp twangs of a fiddle played into the royal couple's ears as they stepped into the bar, attracting as little attention as they could. In one corner of the tavern's main floor was a fireplace, alive with a cackling of flames that danced around it's stoney column, which added to the establishment's cozy atmosphere. Gathered around it were a number of patrons, warming their frostbitten fingers against the heat as they stole swigs of beer and ale from large steins and tore a dark rye from it's loaf. By the bar-counter were a number of other patrons, more fortunately dressed for the cold winter's night, who had their own ale-swigs and bread loaves that they took from their stools on the other side of the counter behind which a very thin gentleman stood washing a glass in front of the kegs.

Off to the side of the scene was a fiddling quartet, the most well heard of which was the violinist, who was standing atop a little box to help project his melodies. They were playing a medley of fiddling pieces that mixed with some traditional Stump Day music, as the holiday was coming close at hand, and had helped to complete the quaint aspect which the tavern held so well.

Entering the lively act were two unlikely individuals for the place: the Princess Star and her boyfriend, Marco, dressed in the least conspicuous attire they could manage to find in the castle. They weren't there to lord over anyone, and didn't want anyone to think that they were, so they dressed up much as they did when they were on Earth: Marco in a red hoodie, jeans, and brown sneakers; Star in her teal dress with the pink ghost, purple and orange leggings, and monster-face boots. And, of course, her devil-horn headband. She couldn't do without that.

They did their best not to disturb the comforting atmosphere in the sanctuary from external chill, but they still drew the attention of some of the less occupied inhabitants of the establishment. To their luck, though, the bartender had never been close enough to the princess to recognize her by face only, and was not begging to give his largess as was, unfortunately, wont of many of Mewni's peasants when they were visited by a noble or royal. Star was trying desperately to change that, but in the meantime she would just avoid going out in her royal dress; she didn't like wearing it anyway.

The two new patrons stepped up to the bar and pulled up stools. "Come on Marco, this'll be fun. You just have to let loose for a little while. We'll take two beers to start with, sir!" Star told the tapster with a cheery but warm tone to match the mood of the place.

"I don't know Star, what if we do something stupid?"

"Don't worry so much Marco. Here, drink up!"

\--

Their speech was beginning to slur after the next few drinks. "What else have you got, mister bar-man?" Star asked the barkeep with her now staggering voice.

\--

"Another round for everyone, all on me!" cried Star in a drunken stupor.

\--

"Look Star," Marco slipped her headband of her head and placed it on his own. "I'm the princess of Mewni!" he stumbled out.

\--

"We're gonna need a room for the night I think,––– Nah, we just need the one bed."

\--

"Marco..." Star prodded him timidly on the forehead, opening up the stinging hangover headache which he would no doubt have all day.

"Oww! Star! What're you doing? Why are we… you..." his flickering-open eyes were greeted by a sight he had only seen on rare occasion, and never at such close a proximity. He couldn't help his initial feelings of desire, but very quickly another thought arose in him, prompted primarily by the sheepish look on Star's face and the realization that his body was in a similar state to Star's. "Star… Did we…?"

She nodded. Marco's face grew hotter.

"Oh…. oh god…."

"Yeah…."

"Oh god…. Star, are you ok? I didn't… you… I mean… you're not…."

"No, I don't think so…." An awkward silence fell between the two of them.

"Umm, Marco?"

"Yes, Star?"

"I'm sorry I made you come and do this with me. It's my fault, and now this happened, and I don't know if we were really ready and it was our first time and I… it's my fault, I forced you to do this," some tears began to well in her eyes as thoughts of how Marco must've felt about it wrenched at her gut.

"Star… it's not your fault; neither of us were in control. I guess we really just have to be glad that we didn't go and do it with someone else." Marco made a half-hearted grin to break the mood, but Star didn't take to it.

"But… our first time was supposed to be special, and, because of me, we can't have that anymore."

"Even if the details are still a little hazy for me, I know that what we did last night was special. And, even if we were drunk, I think it must have been perfect. I don't regret doing it with you one bit. You know, as long as we aren't about to have a kid. I'm definitely not quite ready for that yet." Star cracked a bit of laughter at his last joking comment, and the two of them shared one of the most endearing embraces they ever would. They stayed in the room for a long while, alone in each other's caring grip. But soon, they would have to return to the palace; they would need help set up for the upcoming celebrations, and family would surely be arriving soon.

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Star's Keyblade4114: Hell yeah!

Guest(s?): Firstly, I am really, really sorry if my last response came off as rude to you (whomever wrote the first guest response), I understand the difficulties of the language barrier and get that it can be hard to translate things how you want to. Thanks for the clarification (whomever wrote the second guest response), I have a much better idea of what you(?) were trying to say, and I appreciate the advice.

Second, I'm glad that I didn't do such a bad job at hinting at it that no one realized they were naked XD. I started writing it without the killer being an idea, so when I wrote out that they did it up on the roof and realized I wanted to use the chapter to set stuff up for the future, I realized I didn't want to take that fact out so that I could hint at even more things in the future. It was really funny for me to write with that thought in mind, and I'm glad it was funny for you too.


	5. The Wand

Hi guys! I'm sorry I went on a little hiatus, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this story yet and I got stuck in a little binge-watching craze between Medici and Magicians, which took up basically all of my free time. Not related to this story, but Magicians has been the first show since Star vs. that has captured me in the same way, and I think if you get the chance you should go watch it, its really cool. Anyway, sorry this chapter is really short (bordering on being difficult to call it a chapter), I just wanted to do some foreshadowing with it because I had a couple minutes of free time. I plan on hopefully writing some more so that I can get another chapter out soon, but I'm not sure if I can yet.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who's reading, and responses to reviews will be at the end. I don't own any of Nefcy's characters or story. I hope you enjoy!

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The people nearby had the clearest view of what happened on the day. They were the ones who could see the wand as it flew up into the night sky. It glowed like a star had lit it from the inside out, and a cacophony of whispering enchantments streamed from it like a river gushing from a broken dam. It's form was in constant flux, shifting between the designs of Star's, Moon's, Eclipsa's, and all their ancestors. Never was it settled on any one shape, the whole history of its appearance flashed through it now, and the light behind it was growing brighter and brighter. The light began to engulf the wand as a shape not quite like the others appeared, but the image could not be made out before the entire thing collapsed in on itself. With a flash of pale blue energy, a wave of magical force spread out from the empty space the wand used to occupy, and it spread all across the universe and leaked into the other dimensions as well, sending the magical wave across all of reality itself.

Magic would never again be the way it used to be, and the wand was no more.

\--

Noobl2: Thanks! I'm glad you like how I did the chapter, and that's exactly the idea I was trying to get across with those two chapters.

Star's Keyblade4114: I'll be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it either. The thing is, I'm not interested in writing anything explicit, but I wanted to set up a good one-comforts-the-other scene between the two of them and I needed them to have slept with each other multiple times that I've made aware to y'all for reasons yet to be explained.

Guest: XD That would have made for a fun story. Sadly, I've already kind of written off that relationship as non-existent though… Either way, I like the image of Tom just sleeping on his bed with the rabbit sitting on his chest. It reminds me of my cat.


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